Prickly Pear are an amazing
Permaculture plant with lots of uses. It may be one of the most useful plants for drier areas. They are great for stacking functions and producing food from very little.
We produce jellies, wines, syrup, candy, green vegetable, pickled vegetable, dried vegetable, living fences, and paint sealer. And they can do much more!
This is what we do with them on our place:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Preserving-Prickly-Pears/